Harsha Agashe, a University of Maryland Ph.D. student wears the Brain Cap, a non-invasive, sensor-lined cap with neural interface software. UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, JOHN CONSOLI
The etymology of the term “putting on one’s thinking cap” is not entirely clear, but the head wear seems to have started as a “considering cap.” One source gives the honor of first usage in print (1605) to Robert Armin, an author of comedies and an actor associated with Shakespeare. Or the term may have been derived from the caps worn by scholars of that time. Or it may have described what judges did, and what they wore, while deciding a case.
Whatever the origin, many of the articles in this month’s issue have me musing about how scientists think, not just when employing the time-tested scientific method, but when they think outside their own particular box. Robert Boyle, who is usually lauded as the ...
